About SikWilly

The characteristics of a graduated ego may be seen transformed and seemlessly incorporated with other forms of definition of self and group, making it difficult to recognize there’s an ego in there at all (even though there is).

As a society, we currently are compartmentalizing attributes of the human psyche, ego (service to self) being one of those attributes. What we find with a transformed ego is not the elimination or neutralization or death of the attributes of any of these compartments (one of them being the ego), but the elimination or neutralizaton or death of the walls between compartments. We find that the percieved negative qualities of the ego, such as service to self, isolation, individualization, seperation, and the dualistic nature of ego, can be put to good use when it is combined with service to others, cooperation, compromise, inclusion, and the principles of unity, etc. The lines or compartments start to become blurred: “in my wanting to help or even save a stranger even if it means the sacrifice of me… is this just ego-gratification, or is it the disolving of ego, I can no longer tell the difference, they are becoming one-in-the-same.” It is not the death of the ego, but the evolution of it.

In your path towards service-to-others, stop trying to define the ego in its present definition.

Maybe we are truly graduated when we recognize that service-to-others and service-to-self are one-in-the-same.

Everything good that I do for the group (service-to-others) is good for me (service-to-self).

Don’t forget, EVERYTHING is a microcosm of God, a piece of God that contains the whole of God. Everything good that I do for the group (for God) is good for me (for God).

Wholeness is as much of an illusion as separateness. The recognition of wholeness requires, in the least, the contemplation of there being a “seperate”, for without seperation the definition of something being or becoming whole is incomplete. Therefore, because God knows what it is to be One and is seeking the experience of being seperate, our goal as being on a spiritual path would be twofold. First, we become enlightened to a point where we can recognize that there is a One who is complete and whole, and second is to recognize that you were created because this One desires the experience of being incomplete and partial.

In the creative process (the process which attempts to bring unique experiences about, the process of seperation and reflection) I would think the goal is to have UNIQUE ongoing experiences of being “other” in order to experience and reflect on “self” in an attempt to know yourself and therefore know God (your reflection is God’s reflection of God-self in an attempt to know himself and therefore know You. You, in your uniqueness and wholeness are a microcosm of God pursuing self discovery, self discovery being the method in which God is experiencing himself through duality and seperateness, which are the tools you are using to discover your true self).

Whewsh!

Now, because the One desires this experience and this reflection – seperateness, our goal should not be to shatter this game that was created by him, but to become enlightened enough to recognize the One and fulfill his desire of experiencing this self as seperate and reflect upon your

experiences while reflecting on the God-gift of your uniqueness, knowing that that uniqueness is inherant in the attributes of God and cannot be destroyed. In other words, rejoice in the experience of being alive and unique and meditate on its significance in relation to everything else (the Whole).

Uniqueness is also something that should not be ignored because uniqueness is a reflection of being whole which is an attribute of the One. Being unique means being like no other, being only One. Reflecting on our uniqueness give us the power to reflect on an attribute of God while still being separate. It sums up this method of self discovery.

The danger is in going too far one way or the other. The game is the play between polarity, between opposites. Remove an opposite and reflection and experience falls away, creation ceases to exist.

It is all about creation, the experience of that creation, reflection of the experience of that creation, the recognition of the gift to God this experience is in his/your journey of self discovery, and finally, the role that “gift of reflection” of the experience of that creation plays in bringing about more creation, which in turn creates new experience, which creates new reflection, which creates new gifts, which creates more self discovery, which creates new creation, which creates new experience, which creates new reflection, which creates new gifts, which creates more self……

I began meditation with intent to visit spirit guides. I started by doing energy work and visualization. I found myself before a gate keeper. The gate keeper was dressed in appropriate garb and stood aside as to invite me to his destination. I entered.

I walked through the gate and was transported to another world. I was before a doorway and I stepped through. I walked out under what appeared to be an archway carved out of granite. The granite was a combination of vibrant purples, subdued grays, magentas and violets, all swirled together and brilliantly smooth, like glass. This granite structure was like a large outdoor balcony or landing that overlooked a valley surrounded by a mountainous vista. The mountains displayed the colors found in the granite landing I was on. The landing had a ceiling that was also made from granite, but there were no walls. The landing was wide open exposing a wonderful view. To my left was a bench framed by another granite archway. The landing extended out approximately 15 steps where it abruptly ended, contrasting the harsh, rocky outcropping from which it was molded. The landing appeared to be carved right out of the side of the mountain.

My body was light and full of energy. I found myself dressed in clothing that appeared “regal”. It was similar to armor. The armor graciously reflecting the multitude of colors found in the granite with the addition of glowing splashes of golden white.

I began to walk the length of the landing while filling my body with energy soaked from the wonderful surroundings I found myself enveloped in. I decided not to walk, but lifted myself off the ground and floated slightly above it. My consciousness expanded and I began to feel myself become one with the moist air and harsh, smooth granite upon which I floated above. I re-gathered myself and flew off the ledge, now floating out about 20 feet beyond. I intended to meet my spirit guides.

A soft, white, luminous body appeared and floated before me. She did not communicate with me but instead attempted to blend with me. This did not work but was instead a gesture of love and longing. Soon I found myself surrounded by a dozen other beings of similar design. All embracing me in loving remembrance, carrying me now in an attempt to show their support.

Again, I dispersed my consciousness and attempted to become one with the environment. My being now was like a cloud that filled the valleys and inhabited the rocks, the waterfalls, the flora and fauna. I became one with this wonderful world. This was one of my homes.

I had the sense that I helped to build this world. I was the creative force that set potential free and manifested life. This world missed me. This seems to be what I do. I embark on wonderful adventures assisting the creative forces of life into manifestation.

I gathered my energy and became my being again. The angels, still supporting me, let go and reluctantly left me, wishing me strength of will and belief.

I floated back to the landing and set my feet upon the stone. I did not wish to leave. I walked back to the gate and was greeted again by the gate keeper. “Welcome home,” as he knelt before me. I respectfully returned the gesture and took one look behind me and wished good bye.

Amateur astrophotographer Wayne Jaeschke captured this image of a “terminator projection” rising up from the edge of the Martian disk at about the 1 o’clock position on March 22. The inset photo is a 200 percent enlargement of the region around the projection. For more, check out Exosky.net, Jaeschke’s website.

By Alan Boyle

Amateur astronomers are puzzling over a seemingly anomalous cloud that has shown up on images of Mars taken over the past few days. Is it really a cloud, or a trick of the eye? Does it really extend 150 miles up from the surface, as some of the observers suggest? And what churned up all that stuff, anyway? The amateurs and the pros will be trying to resolve those questions before the phenomenon fades away.

“It’s not completely unexpected,” Jonathon Hill, a member of the team at the Mars Space Flight Facility at Arizona State University, told me today. “But it’s bigger than we would expect, and it’s definitely something that our atmosphere guys want to take a look at.”

Hill and his colleagues will be looking at the area where the cloud was spotted using the Thermal Emission Imaging System, or THEMIS, which is one of the instruments on NASA’s Mars Odyssey orbiter.

“In the command upload we’re preparing to send today, we’ve included observations that will hopefully capture some of these recent clouds,” Hill wrote in an email. “Our THEMIS camera on Mars Odyssey is capable of acquiring simultaneous visible and thermal infrared images, so our atmospheric researchers are pretty excited about the possibility of not only getting a good look at the cloud structures, but also their temperatures.”

THEMIS will be checking out heightened cloud activity around Mars’ shield volcanoes as well as around the southern site spotted by the amateurs. Pictures from a camera on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, called the Mars Color Imager, or MARCI, might provide further clues about the southern cloud feature. And amateur astronomers are sending out the alert for observers to keep a close watch on the Red Planet over the coming days.

There’s been lots of buzz about the high-altitude cloud on Cloudy Nights and other online discussion forums for skywatchers. Sky & Telescope’s Sean Walker says the puff of white was first noticed on March 20 by Wayne Jaeschke, an amateur astrophotographer from Pennsylvania. Since then, other observers have identified the feature in images going back as far as March 12.

All sorts of hypotheses have been proposed: Could it be debris kicked up by a meteoric impact? Is it a huge weather system? Is it merely a funny kind of glint caused by a combination of lighting and atmospheric conditions?

In an email, Jaeschke told me that the feature is “still there, although it has decreased in size over the past two days.”

“This has led some to believe that it was some sort of transient-type event,” Jaeschke said. So it’s crucial to make as many observations of the area as possible over the next few days.

Wayne Jaeschke created this animated GIF image of Mars with the cloud coming into view on the upper right edge of the planet’s disk. For more from Jaeschke, check out his Exosky website.

Walker says the feature is currently well-placed for viewing from the Americas. He says it should show up on the edge of Mars’ disk around 1:10 a.m. ET Saturday, and 39.5 minutes later on each succeeding night. Consult the photos above for guidance on where to point a medium-size telescope — keeping in mind that these images are inverted to appear as they would through a telescope, with south pointing “up.” Arizona State University’s Hill says the area in question is called Terra Cimmeria.

Observation reports should be sent via email to Richard McKim, director of the British Astronomical Association’s Mars Section. (The linked website includes McKim’s email address, as well as a picture of the chap.)

Solving this mystery — if it indeed turns out to be an honest-to-goodness mystery rather than a mere quirk — may require additional data from the big guns of the astronomy world. But in any case, the episode illustrates once again how much amateurs can contribute to uncovering the wonders of the cosmos.

“When it comes to Mars, amateurs and professionals working together give you way more insight into ongoing processes, because with so many amateurs, you’re continuously monitoring changes in the planet,” Hill told me. “They provide a perspective and a context that we don’t usually get.”

March 22, 2012:� A recent flurry of eruptions on the sun did more than spark pretty auroras around the poles.� NASA-funded researchers say the solar storms of March 8th through 10th dumped enough energy in Earth’s upper atmosphere to power every residence in New York City for two years.

“This was the biggest dose of heat we’ve received from a solar storm since 2005,” says Martin Mlynczak of NASA Langley Research Center.� “It was a big event, and shows how solar activity can directly affect our planet.”

Earth’s atmosphere lights up at infrared wavelengths during the solar storms of March 8-10, 2012. A ScienceCast video explains the physics of this phenomenon. Play it!

Mlynczak is the associate principal investigator for the SABER instrument onboard NASA’s TIMED satellite.� SABER monitors infrared emissions from Earth’s upper atmosphere, in particular from carbon dioxide (CO2) and nitric oxide (NO), two substances that play a key role in the energy balance of air hundreds of km above our planet’s surface.

“Carbon dioxide and nitric oxide are natural thermostats,” explains James Russell of Hampton University, SABER’s principal investigator.� “When the upper atmosphere (or ‘thermosphere’) heats up, these molecules try as hard as they can to shed that heat back into space.”

That’s what happened on March 8th when a coronal mass ejection (CME) propelled in our direction by an X5-class solar flare hit Earth’s magnetic field. �(On the “Richter Scale of Solar Flares,” X-class flares are the most powerful kind.) �Energetic particles rained down on the upper atmosphere, depositing their energy where they hit.� The action produced spectacular auroras around the poles and significant1 upper atmospheric heating all around the globe.

“The thermosphere lit up like a Christmas tree,” says Russell.� “It began to glow intensely at infrared wavelengths as the thermostat effect kicked in.”

For the three day period, March 8th through 10th, the thermosphere absorbed 26 billion kWh of energy.� Infrared radiation from CO2 and NO, the two most efficient coolants in the thermosphere, re-radiated 95% of that total back into space.

A surge of infrared radiation from nitric oxide molecules on March 8-10, 2012, signals the biggest upper-atmospheric heating event in seven years. Credit: SABER/TIMED. See also the CO2 data.

In human terms, this is a lot of energy.� According to the New York City mayor’s office, an average NY household consumes just under 4700 kWh annually. This means the geomagnetic storm dumped enough energy into the atmosphere to power every home in the Big Apple for two years.

“Unfortunately, there’s no practical way to harness this kind of energy,” says Mlynczak.� “It’s so diffuse and out of reach high above Earth’s surface.� Plus, the majority of it has been sent back into space by the action of CO2 and NO.”

During the heating impulse, the thermosphere puffed up like a marshmallow held over a campfire, temporarily increasing the drag on low-orbiting satellites.� This is both good and bad.� On the one hand, extra drag helps clear space junk out of Earth orbit.� On the other hand, it decreases the lifetime of useful satellites by bringing them closer to the day of re-entry.

The storm is over now, but Russell and Mlynczak expect more to come.

“We’re just emerging from a deep solar minimum,” says Russell.� “The solar cycle is gaining strength with a maximum expected in 2013.”

More sunspots flinging more CMEs toward Earth adds up to more opportunities for SABER to study the heating effect of solar storms.

“This is a new frontier in the sun-Earth connection,” says Mlynczak, “and the data we’re collecting are unprecedented.”

Stay tuned to Science@NASA for updates from the top of the atmosphere.

My wife and I were driving the back roads from Winter Springs to Daytona Beach at night. We were driving through the Osteen area and there was no other cars on the road. There were not any street lights through this stretch of road and it was very dark out.

Way up ahead of us, we began to see what looked to be a streetlight. But there should not be a streetlight out here, and it would have been the only one within miles. Definately out of place. As we got closer, we could tell that it wasn’t a streetlight, but could not make out what it could be.

My wife began asking me what it was and I told her I did not know. As we got even closer it became more clear to me, it was a flying saucer hovering over a pickup truck shining an extremely bright light down on top of it. My wife started to get more and more panicky as she began to see what I was seeing. “What the hell is going on, Will?” she kept asking me. I was not responding to her, because I was afraid of what her reaction was going to be if I confirmed what she was seeing.

At this time, I knew it had seen us and was going to come after us next. I considered turning around but there was a ditch on each side of the road and I would have had to stop and do at least a 3 point turn to turn around and I felt it would capture us before we could do that. The pick up truck was on the right side of the road leaving the oncoming lane open, so I gunned it and hoped we could go around the truck and get away. As soon as we began to enter the beam, the car stopped. My wife really began to panic at this time. I knew what was about to happen, but she had no idea. The car began to lift of the ground and I could see grays outside the car, one at each of our windows. As the car rose, the 2 beings stayed right beside us. My wife went limp and was no longer screaming. Then I woke up. The dream felt so real, all the emotions and panic. I felt it could have really happened, but I woke from the dream in my bed, and I of course was not traveling the road with my wife!

Like this:

Counted breaths to 10. Imagined relaxation by falling like Alice through the rabbit hole. Gently falling. Decided I’d rise instead as a metaphor. Rose through clouds into space. Continued to rise up, now in space, without direction.

Entered tubes of energy and flowed with them, just observing. Stopped at some unknown place. I was before someone. I knelt and fell into respectful meditation with being I was with. Had communication that I was not to know what should happen or what purpose was just yet. Pretty direct communication, I felt the being had nothing more to say about subject. Stayed for a moment. Some more non-directional communication and decided to move on.

Stood up put my arms outstretched as a symbol of servitude to the being I was with. Gently gathered and released energy and decided to move on. Entered tunnel again, with arms still outstretched. Moved into higher realm.

Out of the abstract colors of the tunnel I was in, came a heavenly earthlike scene. Rolling green hills, blue cloud filled sky a couple hundred yards from the edge of a forest like “boundary”. Out of the boundary came a whispery, angelic being on a whispery, angelic horse, both in white. The being slowly stopped before me. I again knelt in meditative, respectful servitude. This caught the visitor off guard. He/she communicated the awkwardness that I was kneeling before he/she as opposed to the other way around. I communicated that under the present mission and purpose of incarnation, I am to be held at the level I am currently working in. I stated that at the moment I was in servitude to them and was to do as they wished.

I asked he/she to separate and he/she did. There were now 7 angelic beings on horses before me, each displaying a unique personality. I communicated that time was short and I requested I be enlightened as to my purpose. One stated that the time is still not right yet. Another, while looking away from me, stated that I would probably fail at my mission anyway, and that was the reason I shouldn’t be told. I was still in a state of meditative energy gathering and releasing. To silence him or better yet comfort his reluctance, I gathered creative energy and turned the rolling hills into a beautifully, lush tropical forest, full of playful life displaying more than all the colors imaginable.

We were all quiet. No one was looking around at the newly changed environment, they were still looking at me, staring at me in quiet shock at what just transpired. The display was one of such potent creative force that the reason behind my not knowing was now blatantly obvious to everyone there.

I was back to meditative state of energy exchange and openness, awaiting a request. After an awkward moment of silence, the original being stated “The creative act you have just displayed is what you are there to do”. I thought to myself that if this was the case, there is simply no room nor purpose for such work during the current state of affairs on Earth.

After a moment, the beings became one again and slowly dissipated into the forest.

I sat there to reflect.

I took a quick glimpse at the environment and then communicated to the planet that I was on. “Do you wish for this life to stay, or to be reabsorbed back into your conscious body?” The planet stated it was benevolent, and did not have use for such life at this time. I then returned the environment to its original condition. “Thank you.” Said the planet. “Before I leave, do you have any wishes?” I asked. “I am lonely.” it answered. I slipped back into focus and found the planet alone in space (different dimension). I quickly found a logo, a sun and made a request to the sun. “Would you like to be accompanied by a lonely, benevolent planet seeking creative companionship?” “Yes” it stated. I then moved the planet into orbit around it’s new friend. I then returned to self.

I have been disregarding these kind of meditative experiences because they are so subtle. Might as well begin writing them down, eh? Hope you enjoyed.

I was dreaming I was in school, seemed like middle school. I won’t go into too much detail here. I was alone in class after the final school bell rang getting my things together. A girl walked in and helped me out a little. We had small talk, then I left the school and began walking home.

At this point I still wasn’t lucid. As I was walking in my old neighborhood to my house, I noticed the colors of everything began to get more and more drab with overtones of bright red. Kinda erie looking. I also noticed at this point that my brother (Sickscent) was walking with me. Soon after that, the street became very grungy looking with bright red accents. I stopped my brother and said, “Wait a minute, this isn’t right. You know what, we’re dreaming.” He needed only slight convincing and then agreed with me.

We started to explore the environment just a little bit. We made our way to the house we grew up in. We walked in and made our way down a poorly lit hallway. The walls were made out of wood paneling and I asked Sickscent to stop and work on our lucidity because things weren’t as clear as I would have liked them. He pulled his hands to his face and began studying his hands. This was the method he was use to using. I started to concentrate on the details of the environment more and more to get more clarity.

Then I asked him to look at me.

He said “Hold on, let me finish with my hands.” I told him that we should use eachother instead. He dropped his hands and we looked at eachother’s faces and eyes and studied the detail, attempting to make it as real as possible. Now with maximum clarity, we turned our attention away.

We were thinking what we should do next.

The dream environment was so clear at this time, we decided to have some fun and explore it a little more. As we moved further and further down the hallway, we noticed more and more people. We entered an area that was a little more like a night club. Loud noises, poor lighting and lots of people. Again we just took in the reality of it all and commented how amazingly clear and detailed we had gotten everything.

We were among quite a few people when a girl walked by Sickscent and said hello, mentioning him by name. I thought this was odd. They exchanged small talk that I couldn’t really hear, then she walked off. I asked Chad if she was lucid as well and he said he wasn’t sure. I told him to wait there and ran after her. I stopped her and introduced myself as Sickscent’s brother and asked who she was. She told me her name was Ruth. I asked her if she thought she was in a dream state or not and she told me she was. She told me she was lucidly dreaming. I told her that I was lucid as well, and that Chad and I had been lucid for some time and were exploring the environment together. She agreed it was pretty amazing that all three of us were lucid in the same place.

We made small comments concerning the clarity attained in this environment. I soon left and went searching for Sickscent again because I didn’t want to get too separated.

He was still in the same place.

As we made our way around we ran into a group of people that appeared to be frequents. They commented how twisty and confusing this place was and stated that we all needed to be careful because you could be misled to the darker areas of this place where very negative entities were. I commented to Sickscent (they overheard me) that it wasn’t a big deal because we could go through walls and ceilings and all we needed to do to get out was head up. The group was a little apprehensive about this idea, but were concerned about the word that negative entities were nearby.

Sickscent and I decided to follow them out of curiosity. I noticed we were heading downstairs alot and commented to Sickscent that if they wanted to get out and away from the negative, they should be heading up. Sickscent agreed.

Soon, we found ourselves confronted by a non-visible negative presense. I was again convinced that it had no hold on us, especially Sickscent and I, that all we had to do was head up through the ceiling and leave this dream environment.

At this point, the negative presense grabbed hold of me. I could not break free, but at the same time I wasn’t trying very hard. It was kind of novel to me. It’s power was pretty impressive though. It began taking me through the floors and pulling down and down where it was getting darker and darker. I said to myself that I better change this before I get to a place I don’t want to be, so I began to concentrate on moving up with him in tow. To my surprise, he was over-powering me! I thought “This isn’t good!”. Because I could not break free from him, and I could not change his direction, I began to get a little concerned. Maybe I have really underestimated what was going on! I thought for a second, OK, change in strategy. I was trying to control him, which was not working. My attention changed to the environment. Instead of turning him around, I’ll turn the environment around. So I did, I flipped the environment upside down. All of a sudden were heading up backwards.

The trick worked.

Before we knew it, we were heading for daylight. The presense recognized what was going on and changed our direction. We started heading down again! No problem, I flipped the environment again. This time we made it out of the dark and began seeing daylight. Frustrated, again he changed direction. I flipped the environment again. This time we left the darkness and entered the clouds. I chuckled to myself. We were entering an extremely uncomfortable (for him) positively charged beautifully colored, unlimited sky. The negative presense decided to let go and head back down.

I was filled with new energy and confidence. I felt good. I drew in positive energy from the environment by holding my hands out and taking deep meditative breaths while floating in this multicolored clouded sky. It felt good, and I felt good.

I left the clouds and zoomed like superman back to the ground.

I again checked my lucidity and studied my environment. Sickscent was no longer on my mind. I was in a place that had the look and feel of India. It was possibly back a hundred or two hundred years back.

I was in a fairly populated, poor village. I was not greeted well and the local people felt pretty threatened by me, even though I tried to be as non-threatening as possible.

I drew energy and released a field of positive energy that surrounded me for a small distance. The people who had been within this field were no longer feeling threatened. There was one person however, just outside the field who began to get more and more frightened and angry.

He pulled out a sword and demanded my obediance.

I was still lucid and knew that nothing could harm me and politely told him that I would not abide to his demands. I had come peacefully only offering grace and friendship. This really upset him. He came closer and raised his sword. I calmly opened my shirt exposing my chest. In disbelief and anger he swung his sword and cut my shirt. I did not flinch nor move, and again he threatened me. This time, I took off my shirt, walked closer to him, put my arms straight out from my sides and closed my eyes. He swung, cutting my chest wide open. I looked down and gently closed my chest. He looked on with amazement and fear.

At this point, I decided to close the deal. I levitated myself off the ground and again told him I wasn’t someone to be threatened by. I moved higher and higher into the air and moved around him, finally dropping myself to within inches of the ground. Arms still widespread, I gathered another bundle of positive energy and directed it at him. He then apologized and became friendly.

At this point, we were drawing quite alot of attention. I worked hard to keep my lucidity throughout.

Quite a group began gathering and I again drew positive energy in and pushed it out throught this area of the village. This was causing the village to become increasingly positive oriented. They were more and more appreciative and began to treat me more and more like an idol. I told them not too, that I was just exposing the part of themselves that was more aligned with their true nature.

As more and more of the population got involved, there became more and more conflict between the ones that were aligning themselves and the ones who were struggling to hold on to the way it was.

A small group that was trying to orient positively were asking me to help solve some of their dilemmas. Without going into too much detail, I tried to explain to them that it was their fear of change that was keeping them from aclimating to this newly introduced state. They still struggled. We were in the midst of some horses, cattle, and other animals they used for food and work. I asked them how they now felt about these animals. They expressed unparalleled newfound joy and love for all the animals that surrounded them. I then pointed about a quarter of a mile away where the animals were still being used for work and some were being slaughtered for food. “Why are you still tolerating that?” I asked. They told me because without that, they weren’t sure how they’d survive. I told them that that was fear that was still binding them. The conversation got a little deeper, but I’m having trouble remember it now.

I began to move around the village more, introducing more and more positive energy as I went and I noticed more and more conflict. I was surely showing them that it wasn’t me they should be following but it was their heart that was opening, and they should be following their deepest intuitions, which they were doing. But the threat from those that were holding on to old ways were becoming increasingly violent. At this point, I decided that it was now up to the people to complete the task. I left back for the heavens.

The rest of my night was partially lucid. I really wanted to remember these dreams but was having trouble waking up. I was lucid, going over and over the dreams in my dreams.